Thinker

I 2nd the motion for 'Sick Puppy' and the books by Tim Egan. This may strike your fancy, too: "The Ornament of the World" a look at how Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures flourished simultaneously in Spain from circa 700 to 1200 AD. Great info on how the vast wealth of scientific knowledge the Arabs acquired from the Greeks was transmitted to European 'scholars'. [ 09-19-2002, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: Thinker ]

Ryland, thanks for posting the uncut version. It gives a little more perspective on the issues you originally intended to address. Congrats on getting published, again.

Ryland, would you consider posting the original 2600 word article here or providing a link to somewhere it could be read?

How about at least posting the license plate numbers?

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Leave me out of your games. We know you're really all tied up with TLG and have no time for anyone else's games........

quote: Originally posted by erik: the social probing? i thought trask was the only one who volunteered?! He's been lucky thus far not to have gotten a social disease from all those social probings..... [ 09-18-2002, 03:02 PM: Message edited by: Thinker ]

Text messages work well to say "safe for the day", and they're alot less offensive to some. In addition, they often get out when a voice conversation can't/won't for some reason.

I actually tracked down my source on this and talked to a family member. The climber is on his way to Thailand right now. Seems Thailand is marketing/targeting foreign tourists for many kinds of surgery....started out as elective surgery (sex change, etc.) and is expanding to cancer, trauma, etc. I'll post an interesting link when I find it again.

OK, I'm putting the pieces together now. When I first read the other post I thought it was a hypothetical situation, but in retrospect it was a bit more than that. Seems like the injured climber might be trying to be responsible rather than trying to play the system, I like him already.

9/20 ?? Is someone looking at the wrong month?

Havin' fun, Cletus? The primary reason I have a cell phone is for backcountry 'delays' and emergencies. After meeting a crowd of SAR guys on a descent trail who were starting to look for me because I was delayed a day, I felt it was my responsibility to have a way to communicate with the outside world so I don't needlessly drag those souls away from their desks again. "buzz, crackle, crackle, Tell the chopper to turn around, we have them here at the trailhead, crackle, bleep.." Granted, it's laughable to see people chatting away on a summit somewhere or at Muir....but it can done discretely if you feel compelled, AND they're a useful tool in many situations. The Father's Day climb I mentioned above went a little beyond what I like to do, but are you really going to tell your buddy's gf 'NO' when she asks if she can call her Dad? Besides, Baker is hardly wilderness when you can hear the snowmachines raging away a few hundred feet below the summit. [ 09-16-2002, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Thinker ]

I don't think I saw this posted last week: from here "September 10: A Seattle climber fell about 70 feet on the lower portion of Razorback Ridge on Mt. Stuart, breaking his foot. His partner was able to lower him about 200 feet to the glacier and called CCMR at 6:00pm. Pete, Gene Ellis, Tom Ettinger and Freeman Keller flew to the site where Pete held the Huey's skids toed in to the glacier while the victim was loaded into the helicopter. The victim was flown directly to CWH, arriving after dark. The mission time from lift off at Olds to landing at CWH was 37 minutes!" I heard this guy had no insurance and is considering going to Asia (Thailand?) for surgery. Seems like cost for what he needs is aprox 50% what US hospitals would charge. The info I got is third hand. Anyone have any corroborating info?

Similar experiences here. It irks me to NO END when I have 2 bars on my Nokia (ATT service) and get the 'fast busy signal' when I try to complete calls. My hunch is that busy cells towers are programed to eliminate the weakest signals (i.e. those from the summit of Rainier). Was on the summit of Baker Father's Day morn with some friends and we all tried to place the obligatory calls. It took about 5 or 6 tries to complete each call.....with lots of those 'fast busy signals' in between. I occasionally get that in town at home. When I do, I call ATT customer service and their 'solution' is to tell me that my phone is probably malfunctioning and that I should buy a new one....yeah right...why does it work just fine in the same location the next day? I'm geting a bit fed up, too.

The only real issue I see is that they mount up on the close, fun, easy climbs.....exactly where they should be, and where they're expected to be. When encountered on the more remote or difficult climbs they pretty much act like any other climbing team.... Sometimes they even provide a little bit o humor for surrounding climbers. All IMHO, of course. PS...I climb with a couple of recovering Mounties, too. [ 09-13-2002, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: Thinker ]

Check THIS out.

quote: Originally posted by PONCHO&LEFTY: Not everbody is fortunate enough to be able to know someone with experience to help teach climbing to a beginner. Would you guys rather these people go at it on their own and learn the wrong way? If you don't like the groups go somewhere else. Although I have to pay to use the mountains last I checked the mountains were no more mine than theirs. EXACTLY most of the climbs they do in large groups are climbs most of us wouldn't be caught dead on. OK, OK, so it's fun to climb The Tooth sometimes, and I know for a fact Cavey's fav route is on Mountaineers Buttress in the Icicle, but they really don't get in the way too often. And they do teach people to belay well.

Try taking your wedding ring off before you climb. It'll do all KINDS of wonders....

[ 09-12-2002, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Thinker ]

Hey LG, check out the complete headers for the emails (you may have to adjust your 'preferences'). They can be quite telling.

I'd participate.

who all is coming to the gear swap? (see "The Yard Sale" if you don't know what I'm talking about.) I'm stopping by around 5:30 or 6 with a galpal who's got some gear to unload.

Dont forget Krazy1

someone stole his HC and he's gone into a comatose depression because he'll have to eat snow worms now.